Our esteemed fine master Bob Harbicht turned his laser focus first on Brent Forsee seeking information on the Arcadia High School Apaches winning season. Brent acknowledged that it had been a “good year” with a 9-3 record. Bob asked if he was “proud of his role”?  Although Brent responded he wasn’t falling for that, Bob noted that it all comes from the top, and that while some think he (Bob) is a heartless guy, he was giving Brent $10 fine waivers for EACH of those victories! BUT ….before Brent sat down, Bob wanted to talk about the losses. Turns out the losses were to Burbank, Crescenta Valley, and Quartz Hill in the CIF Quarter Finals, but that they beat Burroughs, and that two of the three teams they lost to were playing in the CIF Championships. As result Brent was only fined for two losses at $20 each; think he came out way ahead overall.

Next he turned to Kathy Ellison to ask if she had been taking any big walks lately, since he had recently fined Mimi Hennessy for her walk in Spain. Kathy acknowledged that she had been so inspired by the book Wild that she went on the Pacific Crest Trail. While she didn’t pass any state borders, she had walked nine miles in only a few hours. Bob concluded that since Mimi walked almost 100 miles in 7 days that Kathy would have walked 63 miles if she had kept up that rate for 7 days, leaving her still 37 miles short, so she was fined $1/ mile for 37 miles.

Next on his feet was Mike Real, who had failed to attend an evening meeting, one in a series of alternative meeting formats. Since it was a regular meeting and Mike is a past president, Bob wondered what was the cause of this dereliction of duty? Mike couldn’t seem to recall where he was so Bob reminded him that he was in Palm Springs (the fine master knows ALL). Mike’s memory restored, he allowed as how he was not on business, although he did look at a few dates, and hoping for leniency, noted that he had “made up” the next night at Matt Denny’s. Bob was not impressed but let him off with $50.

Wanting to get in ahead of the statute of limitations, Bob called on Francine Chiu. When asked where she had been recently, Francine acknowledged (after a very long pause) that she had been in Taiwan for 3 weeks. Bob thought that was a nice long vacation and wondered what she had been doing. Turns out she was “traveling around” and that Taifun Maggie had visited the island while she was there, but that she stayed safe in the hotel lobby (bar). The trip cost her $50.

Larry Callahan owned up to being in Iowa for Thanksgiving; Bob didn’t fine him since he had voluntarily confessed, which Bob asked us all to take to heart. BUT Bob wanted to know more about a choir performance at church (which he had missed). Turns out that students at Larry’s former high school, where he has continued to volunteer, wrote a song in his honor and performed it at church. Larry asked Bob if he knew the Bible passage the song was based on: “Walk humbly with your God”? Bob ignored the question and noted that no one had ever written a song for him. Ernie Aragon volunteered that he had a song written about him called “wasted days and wasted nights”, which Larry though sounded more fun that his song. Being honored cost Larry $50.